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There are parts of Dwolfdragon Designs that I'm pretty good at.
I can design an ornament.
I can figure out how the pieces need to fit together.
I can make the laser cut them.
I can make adjustments when what came out of the laser doesn't quite match what was in my head.
But there are also parts of Dwolfdragon Designs that I have absolutely no business doing.
Fortunately, I have Vickie.
You've heard her name around here before.
She's my girlfriend, my biggest supporter, occasional source of ideas, and the person who patiently listens when I start a sentence with,
“So I had this idea...”
Which, around here, can be dangerous.
But I've never really introduced you to her.
So let me tell you about the artist at Dwolfdragon Designs.
When I first started making Christmas ornaments, I had a plan.
It was a good plan.
At least I thought it was.
I would design the ornaments in layers.
Cut everything on the laser.
Mass spray paint the different pieces.
Assemble them.
Package them.
Done.
Nice and efficient.
Then I made the first Santa Flight ornament.
I handed the pieces to Vickie along with a handful of acrylic paint pens.
I don't remember giving her much direction.
I just let her work on it.
When she was finished, I looked at it.
Holy crap.
That is so much better.
What I had designed was a collection of flat, single-color layers.
What she handed back to me had Santa.
Not a Santa-shaped piece.
Santa.
The reindeer looked like reindeer instead of reindeer shapes.
The house had colored walls and actual trim.
The trees had green foliage and brown trunks.
There was snow on the trees and the cabin.
Instead of a single-color night sky, there were tiny stars in the background.
The laser had made all the pieces.
Vickie made them come alive.
So naturally I did what any good manager would do after discovering an employee with an unexpected skill.
I handed her ten more.
And five other designs.
“You're the artist now. Do whatever you think looks best.”
So much for the mass spray-painting plan.
Since then I've learned that I can design something and still have no idea what it's actually going to look like when Vickie gets finished with it.
I made a Grill Master sign.
In my mind, I had made a sign.
I came home and Vickie had decided to paint it.
Now the grill had charcoal highlights underneath it.
The flames had accents that actually made them look like flames.
Once again, she had looked at what I made and seen something I hadn't.
I've learned to stay out of the way.
But painting isn't really why I'm telling you about Vickie.
That's just the easiest part to show you.
There are a lot of things that happen around Dwolfdragon Designs that nobody sees.
The night before an event when there are still things that need to be finished.
The packing.
The last-minute preparation.
The inevitable realization that I've forgotten something.
Vickie stays up with me.
She does whatever needs to be done.
At events, she talks to customers.
She helps.
She offers ideas.
And when I come up with one of my weird ideas, she listens.
Usually she tells me she likes it.
Sometimes she adds something that makes it better.
Sometimes she has ideas of her own.
And sometimes I tell her I don't think an idea fits what I'm trying to do with Dwolfdragon Designs.
That's okay too.
She doesn't get offended.
We talk about it and move on.
But I think the most important thing she does is much quieter than any of that.
She believes in this.
Especially when I'm having trouble doing that myself.
There are days when I wonder if Dwolfdragon Designs is going to work.
We've talked about some of those days here.
Am I doing enough?
Should I be doing more events?
Should I finally get the Shopify store built?
Should I be posting more?
Should I be chasing opportunities harder?
Am I spending all this time and money building something that's actually going somewhere?
Vickie is there for those conversations too.
She keeps encouraging me.
She keeps telling me my ideas are good.
Even the weird ones.
And here's the thing that probably matters most.
Vickie doesn't particularly care about lasers.
She doesn't have some lifelong fascination with 3D printers.
She wasn't dreaming about spending weekends at vendor events.
She cares about Dwolfdragon Designs because I care about Dwolfdragon Designs.
That's it.
She wants this to work because it's important to me.
There isn't a product I can make that represents what that's worth.
I can design another ornament.
The laser can cut it.
I can hand Vickie the pieces and watch her turn it into something better than what I had imagined.
But when people see the finished ornament sitting on my table, they don't know which parts are mine and which parts are hers.
They just see Dwolfdragon Designs.
Maybe that's why I wanted to tell you about her.
You've been coming around here for a while now.
You've heard about the printers and the lasers.
You've met Dwolf.
You've heard about the Have To and the Want To.
You've heard about the events, the ideas, the mistakes, the things that work and the things I'm still trying to figure out.
So you should probably know that there's someone quietly standing beside me through all of it.
Her name is Vickie.
She's the artist.
And Dwolfdragon Designs wouldn't be the same without her.